Raising Karishma
by Mika Uriah
Summary: The third in a trilogy  may make it a series if I get requests for it  - first in the series is COMFORT AND HEARTACHE, 2nd is WHO SAYS THE JOURNEY TO A MIRACLE IS EASY - just a bunch of drabbles and ficlets on Diana and Bruce raising their daughter. BM/WW
1. Disclaimers and fun stuff!

DISCLAIMERS AND FUN STUFF!

**DISCLAIMERS: **I own the following: Karishma Wayne, Sean Lee, Doctor Jemini Varapragasm, the Mac this was written on, My Itunes account, and my account that this was posted on.

The songs that I used, can be found by the artists and on their albums (lists included), I don't own Batman, Wonder Woman or any of the other DCAU/DCU/JUSTICE LEAGUE/BATMAN Characters that are mentioned in this fic, they belong to their wonderful creators, I just borrow them for a bit and warped them to the best of my ability.

**A/N: **This was floating around my head for a bit, and I'm sorry that it took me so long to write it, but this is the last of a three part series in the J.L.A Cartoon Universe: the first one in the trilogy was: COMFORT AND HEART ACHE the second was WHO SAYS THE JOURNEY TO A MIRACLE WAS EASY and this final one: RAISING KARISHMA. Someone mentioned this becoming a small series; I don't know about that one – I might be interested if I get a lot of requests for it.

**A/N 2: **Want to thank Margret2u and my husband David who has been really supportive on this: Although Margret2u isn't a JLA/Batman fan she allowed me to be bounce ideas off her, and to my husband David, who is one of the biggest Batman fans I know and still didn't get too offended that I made him slightly out of character – I love you both! Hugs and kisses!

**A/N 3: (Spoilers) **I made the character: Karishma in this fanfic 80% Deaf in one ear and profoundly deaf in the other; I made her way this since birth, as you find out in the first chapter. But, I also made her be able to talk with a lot of help from Speech therapy lessons and sign as well, having her with the best of both worlds. I understand that there is a bit of a controversy in this in the Deaf Community as she may seen as an outsider in both worlds; I am sorry for the controversy that I meant to cause, but please don't email me and let me know about it unless you find a glaring error. All mistakes are my own.

**A/N 4: **If you want to use any of my characters in your own fan fiction, or want to publish your stories on your site/archive, please let me know in advanced: . - thank you.

**A/N 5: **Bounces around time from when Karishma is a few months old, until she graduates College – 9 months, 3 years, 5 years, 15 years, 17 years and finishes at 22 years.

**A/N 6: **"" are quotes, as in someone is saying it – ' ' means someone (usually Karishma) is Signing or using ASL

**Songs I used: **(as mentioned before I own none of these songs, all songs belong to the artists)

**Deaf girl – Cloud Cult **

**Thank God for Kids – The Oak Ridge Boys**

**Slipping through my fingers – ABBA**

**What do you say in a moment like this – Reba McEntire**

**Father and Son – Ronan Keating**

**We don't need another hero (thunder dome) – Tina Turner **

**Crazy – Gnarls Barkley**


	2. Concerns

Concerns

**Did you hear about the deaf girl?**

**The one who sang a silent song?**

**Although it's totally quiet**

**You can't help but hum along**

Diana Wayne watched her nine month old daughter get fitted for a hearing aid at Wayne Tech as her husband read over the literature.

The Doctor, Jemini Varapragasm smiled "do not worry Miss Wayne, Karishma will be hearing like a bat soon enough." The young doctor smiled, she made the joke, but had no idea that she was actually fixing the hearing of Batman and Wonder Woman's adopted daughter.

"It is always bats." Diana smirked to her husband quietly "for once I'd like to hear something involving Amazons."

He smiled softly; it's been six months since they found three-month-old Karishma on the Kosi Embankment after a massive flood.

Like any young married couple with a new child, Karishma took over the lives of Diana and Bruce, both took time off from the Justice League, Bruce put less hours in at the office and on the streets of Gotham, delegating work to the employees and to his side kicks respectively, so he could be home for dinner and tuck Karishma in at night, so they could enjoy the little things. So they could be a family. The new generation of Mr. and Mrs. Wayne.

FOUR WEEKS AGO

Bruce sat in his office working on a new a merger with another company, the last time he see his wife, she was talking to their butler and friend: Alfred Pennyworth, about kitchen renovations.

He was alone in his office sipping brandy and going over paper work when he got a whiff of her subtle perfume "done talking about kitchen renovations, already?" he smirked.

She returned the smile "never, nothing gets me through the day like talking about backsplash mosaic designs." She teased and grew serious "Bruce, we need to talk."

He was going to flirt, but realized she was serious and shut the folders on his desk "what's going on?" he offered a chair for her to sit, but she sat on the edge of his desk instead.

"I think something is wrong with Karishma."

He furrowed his eyes brows "what do you mean?"

"I've noticed little stuff since she arrived with us but didn't really think much of it, to be honest. It's the little things, Bruce. "

Bruce frowned and took her hands "what are you talking about?"

"When she first came with us, Alfred dropped a big stainless steel pot on the tile floor of the kitchen and it made a huge bang, she was sleeping in her car seat in the kitchen when it happened and she didn't even move, Bruce. I thought she was just a sound sleeper, but, there are other things as well."

He leaned back and put his hands together and rested the tips of his fingers against his lips "is it a possibility she's a sound sleeper?"

"The other day she was getting into one of Alfred's plants and we called her to stop and she didn't answer us, didn't even acknowledged that we were calling her."

"She's eight months old, she was doing something wrong, of course she wasn't going to answer you." He chuckled "baby she's fine." It was denial in his voice; you did not have to be Superman with 50 different forms of vision to figure that out.

"I went to go pick up her up and lift her from the plants and she didn't even hear me coming, until I touched her arms, then she started to cry and had this look of fear on her face, I want to get her hearing checked, Bruce."

Could something be wrong with their daughter? He had to admit, he knew there was a chance that something could go wrong, they knew nothing about her past.

Nothing about any medical records or testing that they would've done when she was a newborn at the hospital. That is if she was born at a hospital.

Bruce knew the statistics on infanticide with female babies in that part of the world; maybe she was left on the embankment on purpose?

He was getting lost in his thoughts, and he knew that he had to come up with an answer for his wife.

Could they handle a deaf child? Would there be more responsibility taking care of a child with special needs? Mind you, who says that she won't be completely normal despite her hearing loss? Could their daughter do all of the things that he wished for her to do? Who said she couldn't?

He nodded, "Okay, we can take her to Leslie's get her hearing checked, and take things from there." He pulled her down into her lap "this doesn't change anything, with Karishma, She's a Wayne, nothing will change that. Yeah I'm scared and I wish this wasn't happening, to her more than us, but we'll do what we have to do ok? I promise." He kissed her.

"This won't change anything? Even though she's not perfect?"

He brushed some hair out of her face and shook his head "it'd be more difficult; sure, of course. But, she's our daughter, we won't deny her anything, and you know that. We can get through this." He wasn't nearly as confident as what he sounded.

BACK TO THE PRESENT

Diana was right, Karishma was profoundly deaf in her left ear and had 80 percent hearing loss in the other, thanks to a genetically malformed cochlea, so they were at Wayne Tech, after countless arguments over the last four weeks: hearing aids, cochlear implants, speech therapists, sign language, will they both lean sign language? Will Alfred and those close to her? They were still undecided on absolutely nothing, other then they both loved Karishma and they only wanted the best for her.

Diana brought Bruce out of her thoughts, by resting a hand on his shoulder and gently kissing his cheek "darling?"

He looked up and smiled at her "yeah?"

"Dr. Varapragasm is ready to turn on the hearing aids, want to come see?"

He let out a small boyish smile and it made him look at least 10 years younger "wouldn't miss it," he took Diana's hand and took the two or three steps over to where Dr. Jemini Varapragasm and Karishma were, he waved to his always smiling daughter and took her hand gently.

Jemini smiled her white teeth looked even whiter against her caramel sun kissed island skin, "I think she's ready," her soft voice cut through the light buzzing of medical supplies and machinery, Karishma's hands went to her ears; she knew something foreign was in her body and she desperately wanted to get it out, Jemini stopped the baby's hands gently "remember she might cry for a few days, all the new things she might be hearing, we hear them every day, but they'll be new and startling for her, including voices. It's not that she doesn't like what is going on, she just has to get used to her new ability, both hearing and listening are skills, some of us are born with, and some of us need to acquire. Like everything Miss. Karishma is going through right now, this is just one more thing she needs to learn. Ready?"

Both parents nodded as Diana got on her knees gently in front of their daughter, Jemini turned on the hearing aids "go ahead."

"Karishma, Honey?" Diana whispered and Karishma's head turned immediately to where she heard her mother's voice with a giant smile on her face.

The smile on his daughter's face and the tears of happiness on Diana's, made Bruce realize, they were most definitely doing the right thing, where everyone was concerned.


	3. Asking Daddy

Asking Daddy

**Daddy, how does this thing fly?**

**And a hundred other where's and why's**

**You really don't know but you try**

**Thank God for kids. **

Diana found her three year old daughter, congested and sick daughter sleeping on the couch with her stuffed duck in her arms, Bruce was sitting on the floor by their daughter's feet, the laptop on his lap; Diana just came in from a brutal mission involving a forest fire in California somewhere.

The sight of her husband, giving their butler time off so he could take care of his daughter warmed her heart more then those flames that were licking the 200 year old oak trees in the forest.

Diana kissed her daughter's forehead and then her husband on the lips "how is she?"

"Her fever broke, she's tired and listless and doesn't want to play or anything, and spent most of the day sleeping and throwing up, but…She's better," he made a face "if that makes sense."

She grinned, "It does, what are you working on?"

"Hmm, just googling random stuff."

"Like?"

He shut his laptop "we were watching Little Bear and started she signing and asking all of these questions."

Despite the early speech therapy and signing lessons, three-year-old Karishma, very much rather sign then talk.

"Can I ask what?"

"Daddy, why is the sky blue? How come birds fly? Where are you going?" he made a face "how come Max and Ruby don't have a mommy or a daddy? I'm paraphrasing but I'm not exaggerating, seriously. Every time something happened today it started a new set of questions. I don't know if it had something to do with her being sick and she's bored or what."

Karishma woke up long enough to sneeze and then went back to sleep again.

Diana chuckled softly.

"What?"

"We went through this yesterday during the day, she wasn't sick, just curious."

"What did you tell her?" he turned around to look at his wife.

"Easy, I told her to ask Daddy."


	4. Letting the baby bat out of the batcave

Letting the baby bat out of the cave

**School bag in hand **

**She leaves home in the early morning**

**Waving goodbye**

**With an absent minded smile**

"How could you be so calm about this, Di?"

"She's five Bruce, she has to go to school," Diana argued as Alfred packed Karishma's lunch in the Wonder Woman lunch box and thermos set.

"That's not what I'm taking about, is this about the Wonder Woman vs. Batman thing? She's a girl, Bruce, all little girls would rather be Wonder Woman, it's a princess and horse kind of a thing," she stated, "It could be worse."

"How? And that's not what I'm talking about." He crossed his arms, Diana grinned and fed him a bite of her cheese croissant

"Well, it could've been Superman, or Green Lantern," she teased, "how come J'onn doesn't have a lunch box? And I'm sorry I thought you were talking about the lunch box, what is it, hmm? Tell me Mr. Wayne?" she put the cheese pastry on the counter and listened to him as they both watched Karishma put her shoes on the wrong feet, her thick black hair has never been cut and was down the middle of her back, it was plaited in two braids for school.

"I mean…How come you can be so calm letting her go on the school bus by herself? Alfred can drive her too school, it won't be a problem."

Alfred smirked in his corner of the kitchen, "Fear Toxin, Master Bruce?" he deadpanned.

"Smartass," Mr. Wayne sighed and bent down to fix Karishma's shoes.

'Because I want to Daddy, I'm a big girl now, please?' she signed in fluid sign language, 'you say that I shouldn't let the kids at school bug me about my hearing.' She signed fast, still rather signing then talking. She had enough notes about talking in school, brought home to not worry Diana and Bruce about it.

"Are you sure that's everything" Bruce both spoke and signed to her.

Karishma played with her braids like she often did when she was in trouble, he took her hands gently and got down on his knees so he could see her large, brown eyes "you are not in trouble Kari, but you have to tell me, please?"

She sighed and spoke "I don't want to be 'the rich girl' I just want to be...Kari." she muttered, her voice quiet, almost a whisperer. She took her backpack and kissed her grandfather Alfred on the cheek and took Diana's hand so Diana could lead her to the school bus stop in front of their gate, but ran back and kissed her Bruce, almost forgetting that morning.

Bruce got up off of his knees and sighed in the kitchen, he had no idea that the very thing that he was using to protect his daughter, was the very thing that was making her upset and isolated, Alfred rested a hand on Bruce's shoulder "would you like me to drive behind the school bus this morning, on your way to the office, Master Bruce?"

Bruce shook his head and drank from his coffee, "I think she's right, Alfred, I think my five year old just outsmarted me. I...I think it's time for her to grow up, let her be independent – She's not two anymore. God even when she was two she more was independent then most grown ups I know."

"I thought we agreed not to compare her to Master Wally."

Bruce blinked and looked at him; Alfred coughed "very well then sir, I guess, we are letting the baby bat out of the cave as it were?"

"Guess so."

Diana came in a few minutes later with a look on her face that Bruce couldn't tell meant if she was pissed off or amused, she put a crushed, bat shaped listening device on the counter "Bruce."

He swallowed the last bit of his cold coffee before he answered, "not mine I swear, yes I have issues with her taking the bus going to school, but I wouldn't bug her, I would put a tracking device under the bus," he told her flat out.

Alfred cleared his throat once more, this time from wiping down the counter "well, sir, I will remember that for next time."

"ALFRED!" they both looked at him incredulously.

Alfred simply shrugged, "she is my granddaughter, after all." he left the kitchen to finish cleaning.


	5. With them

With them.

**What do you say in a moment like this**

**When you can't find the words oh to tell it like it is**

**Just bite your tongue and let your heart lead the way**

15-year-old Karishma sat at the bat computer in the bat cave, doing her homework and listening to the new My Chemical Romance album, Bruce could see her head bobbing from the tinted windows of the bat mobile.

He heard on the police scanner, about a car crash with a bunch of teenagers. No survivors, he didn't envy the Gotham police department tonight, having to tell all those parents, that their son or daughter wasn't going to come home from that party, or, where ever it was that they were coming from.

Bruce wondered briefly if he ever scared Alfred into thinking he wasn't going to come home one night. Of course, going to Israel to learn Krav maga was different then: who knows doing what with whom in whatever hours of the night.

Bruce got out of the bat mobile and kissed her head good evening, she looked up at him eyeliner and mascara was smudged from crying and rubbing her face, "hey! Whoa!" He took off his cowl and leaned against the computer "what's going on?" he looked at her papers, it was supposed to be an essay but instead it was graffiti in the margins and tears streaked across the page.

"Nothin'" she sniffed.

"Kari…please?" he turned down her CD.

She looked up at him again "Marcy invited me to a party at Matt's house."

"Matt was the guy you liked right? The uhm, Rugby player?" it was hard to keep all of these friends and crushes, and friend's crushes, and who was real and who was a member in some band he never heard of, that was just technically noise that would never pass for music, back in his day (and that Tokio Hotel wasn't a hotel in Tokyo). He was beginning to sound like Alfred.

She nodded "Matt told Carlo whose on the rugby team with Matt and Carlo told Noah who told Stacy in English and Stacy told Marcy in Economics and Marcy told me in chemistry that Matt liked me and wanted me to be there at the party tonight, so he could tell me."

Apparently the communication ring between teenagers was up there with the junior ranks of the mafia…He still couldn't figure out this youspace, mytube, twitbook stuff.

The last time he called someone a twit, it didn't mean that he wanted to follow him or her around. He just nodded and urged for her to continue.

"Mom reminded me that I couldn't go because it was a school night, I told her the importance of me being there because Matt was going to tell me that he liked me." She sniffed "I asked if I could go for half an hour and I will come back to do my homework, and mom said that there was more important things to worry about then boys; like getting good grades and getting into a university, she doesn't get that a part of being in high school is to be social to be on teams and groups, to network and stuff!" She rubbed her face again "It was dumb but I told her that I hated her! I told her that just because she grew up on an island of women, who was taught to hate men, doesn't mean that I have to hate boys too! I told her that she was ruining my life and that I hated her!"

Bruce bit his lip, Karishma and Diana barely argued, but lately when they did it rivaled some arguments he heard between Joker and Harley Quinn, and sighed; he read somewhere that women had the tendency to sync up when they were on their menstrual cycles, quite often he found both Alfred and himself in the bat cave or up on the watch tower, out of the way; "I know you didn't mean it baby, your mom, just wants what's best for you, so does me and Grandpa and Uncle Clarke and Uncle John, and Uncle J'onn and everyone else, you know that hon. You know she forgives you."

"I told Marcy that I couldn't go and she said that she was picking up: Alicia and Monica and that I should just sneak out, I'll leave for half an hour, Matt can tell me he liked me and have a soda or something and then come back before anyone knew I was gone."

Bruce was going to point out that this wasn't as easy as she thought it was, but he had the feeling he was missing the point so he kept his mouth shut.

"She said that she'd meet me at the corner, and if I wasn't there in half an hour then she'd leave with out me. I wasn't at the corner," she started crying harder "Dad?" her voice cracked and she put her head on his lap like she was a little girl and he combed her fingers through her hair.

"Yeah, Princess?"

She stopped talking and started to sign, she only did it when she never trusted herself to speak what she had to out loud: 'They were in a car accident, Marcy's mom called Grandpa, everyone in the car died.' Her hands shook.

He thought of little Marcy Ryans with her freckles and constant smile and he swallowed, Marcy was at the house more often then the Justice League was.

He gathered her up in his arms and held her to his bat costume, the cape draped over her shoulders like his arms and protected her like a blanket, her shoulders shivering from the emotion ripping through her petite body, and the cold of the cave; his heart went out to Miss Ryans and Alicia Cooper's mother. What do you say in a moment like this though?

"Why did mom stop me from going?" she sobbed "I should've died too! I should've been in the car!"

Bruce held her until she cried out all of her anger and sadness, until he thought at one point that she was going to be sick.

"I know mom is just trying to protect me Daddy and I love her, but..."

"But?" he urged her through the tears and sobbing, Karishma had the tendency to bottle everything she was feeling up, and he didn't want this to bottle up inside of her.

She started to sign again: 'But, I should've been dead, Dad! I should've been in that car! I should've been in that crash with them...Or maybe if they weren't waiting for me the crash wouldn't have happened at all,' she started to sob again and hugged him hard.

He pictured the Gotham Police coming to the door in the rain, telling Alfred and Diana that Karishma was in a car accident, that she didn't make it. He could see and feel Diana's heart breaking like his own, he knew that a part of the high school experience was to try and fit in with everyone else instead of wanting to stand out. But, what do you do when the only people you want to be like are dead?

"I should've been with them, Daddy," and the tearful way she looked up at him, her brown eyes full of confusion, played in his mind the rest of the night.

As Batman he can protect his daughter from a lot of things, keep the streets of Gotham clean and safe for her and her friends, but how do you keep her safe from life going on around her?


	6. Keep dreaming Always dream

Keep dreaming, because you don't know when they might stop.

**I was once like you are now **

**And I know that it's not easy **

**To be calm when you've found something going on **

**But take your time, think a lot **

**Think of everything you've got **

**For you will still be here tomorrow, but your dreams may not **

Bruce was up in the watchtower reading a book on Wicca, raising an eyebrow behind the cowl, he was supposed to be watching to make sure the newest members of the JLA didn't screw up this recon mission between this Alien race that suddenly existed because two weeks ago they went back in time and…well, Bruce really hated time travel.

J'onn sat down beside him "interesting book?" the Martian queried lightly as he read the title on the spine "I must admit, Batman, you don't quite strike me as the spiritual type."

He looked up "I'm not, I'm not religious either to be honest, seen to much stuff in this job to make me doubt it too much, to be honest."

"So" the Martian Man Hunter questioned "is this for a case?"

Bruce shook his head "Karishma is…trying to find a religion, I think it's a little more then that though and I wanted to read up on a bit of the ones that she is trying too choose, so I can support her properly."

"What do you mean?"

"I think she's trying to find who she is other then the Deaf Indian Wayne Adopted Daughter, Shtick."

"I guess being a Wayne leaves big shoes to fill."

He nodded, "I guess so, I never thought about it before, but she started taking these second language courses last year, and she celebrates a lot of different ceremonies with her friend's families, I think…"

"She's trying to figure out what works for her?"

"Hmmm, precisely."

"I think it is something all teenagers and new comers go through yes? The idea of finding out who we are, all of these different choices, all of these different paths. What is that line from the poem? Two roads diverged in a wood and I took the lesser one?"

"I think that's part of it, she asked Alfred the other day why she was left on the embankment, during the mudslide. She found out about infanticide and wondered if that was part of it, if maybe her real parents thought that she wasn't worth the dowry they would have to collect for her when she was ready to marry."

"You don't think that's it do you?"

Batman shrugged "I don't know, she told me and her mother a few months ago that she didn't know if she wanted to have children or get married, she's mentioned: religion, the military, politics, not going to university at all, becoming Wonder Woman's side kick, a teacher, becoming a bisexual, a space traveler, and a housekeeper.

"Those are a lot of dreams," J'onn chuckled about his niece, that was Karishma, always dreaming, always having her head in the clouds, maybe becoming a space traveler would suit her, "What did you say?"

"Well I mentioned that her grades weren't good enough to work for NASA or become a neurologist, and that she hated helping Alfred cleaning, but if she was happy then I'd support her."

J'onn's red eyes squinted as if trying to read Bruce as he typed stuff into the computer console in front of them "did you mean it?"

"Of course I did, I...You know how it is J'onn, you tell them they can't do anything and they'll do it anyway just to spite you. I don't want Kari to think she has to go behind our back to do something, or that if she follows this mold that's the only way we'll love her, She's a Wayne even if it's not by blood. But, if she doesn't want to take over Wayne Enterprises when I'm gone, it doesn't mean that I'm going to stop loving her. I love the fact that she's open to telling Di and me about these things. I love the fact that she's 17 and feels like she can still come to Di and me about anything that's on her mind. We can't protect her forever, but I'm not going to put her in a bubble or tell her she can stop dreaming, either." He rubbed his unshaved chin "She can be a bisexual Satanic nun that leaves and decides to work for Harley Quinn and Joker, doesn't mean I won't love her any less, she'll always be my daughter."

J'onn smiled softly and went back to what he was doing, changed his mind and loaded up a Google web page.

"What are you searching, for J'onn?"

"Seeing what the laws are on Earthling parents adopting Martians," he grinned the only way J'onn knew how too.

Bruce chuckled and opened his mouth to say something when all of a sudden Robin came on the view screen "Hey…Uh, Batman? We kind of need your help…" An explosion went off at a sand dune behind him spraying sand everywhere.

"What's going on? It was supposed to be a Recon mission, nothing more," Bruce half growled.

"Well…Uh...let's just say that, they aren't exactly the talking type."

Batman sighed and looked at J'onn who was already getting a pod ready for them "we'll be there as soon as we can, Batman out." He shut off the view screen and followed J'onn to the elevator to the launch pads.

"I was wondering something, Bruce," J'onn waited to speak again until the doors the shut.

"What's that?"

"What about Karishma dating?"

Bruce shook his head "we never really set up rules on that, Diana and I didn't put rules on who she could or couldn't date; religion, race, species or whatever, Kari can make her own decisions on who she falls in love with, I don't want to be one of those Dad's that puts his foot down and tells her 'you are not leaving this house, with that skirt on or with that boy.'"

"So, you are okay with Sean asking her out then?"

"Sean?"'

"Sean Lee, Wally's nephew," His red eyes glittering in merriment.

Bruce blinked and for half a second he didn't have eyes, Bruce didn't answer until the got into the pod to launch themselves to the new planet "I…" he bit his lip and thought of one of the youngest members of the JLA, around the same age as Dick Grayson and the Teen Titans.

The kid had heart that was possibly bigger then Wally's if that was possible. The kid had the worse luck known to man. But, he was a damn good kid and the limited association that Kari had with the Justice League outside of the seven founders, Sean Lee made her laugh the loudest "Wally and Sean are good people, Karishma could do a lot worse then Sean." He said with confidence.

J'onn nodded as he launched the pod to the planet they were being called to.


	7. We don't need another masked hero

**So, what do we have to do with our lives**

**We leave only a mark**

**Our story shine like a light or end in the dark**

**Give it all or nothing**

**We don't need another hero**

**We don't need to know the way home**

It's been six months the Justice League has been with out a Batman.

Six months since Diana Wayne has been a widow.

Six months since Karishma lost her father.

The team was still walking on eggshells around Diana, the mention of Batman and Bruce would rock Wonder Woman's soul to the core and would send her into tears so fast and hard that J'onn would have to sedate her.

"Diana, I know you don't want to think of replacing Bruce, God I don't want to think about replacing Bruce, but, we have to start putting in names," the six of them were sitting at the table, out of habit they always made sure their was seven chairs at the table, but, it was like putting salt in a wound, another reminder that Bruce Wayne was dead.

Batman was Dead.

He was never coming back.

"I, I know, your right, Clark," she looked at the rest of the team "I'm sorry, I know this isn't usually like me. To cry at the drop of his name I mean, it's just…we were together for so long, almost 25 years." She looked around and everyone's hair was graying in just the right areas, it some how made Clark look even more distinguished behind his suits and glasses, Bruce too actually.

Shayera rubbed Diana's back "maybe if it were an act of Batman, or he was sick it would be easier to deal with?" She didn't want to say that she's been thinking the same thing over the six months.

Diana nodded her head and as per usual Wally always looked like he was going to cry, to be honest, she thought Wally grieved harder then Karishma did, then again Karishma always did take to never showing her emotions, bad traits from both of them.

"We miss him to Diana, but, it is healthier if we move on, especially in the team, he would've wanted it that way." J'onn's deep voice resonated somewhere deep within her.

Bruce Wayne was found on the side of the road after being a good Samaritan and helping someone with a broken down junk bucket of a car, he recognized Bruce Wayne and realized that the car that Bruce was driving back from a meeting at Wayne Tech with would've been a better fix, so he shot him, Once in the chest, Once in the head. Did the details really matter?

Everyone was so shocked with grief, they did find the car, but they never found the guy who stole it. Bruce was the only witness to this unsolved crime.

Alfred was hospitalized with shock; he could barely talk when he was the one that answered the door.

Karishma was away at Gotham State University and she needed to be told, but, no one would even think about calling her on the phone and saying something like that, how would you? In the same tone that a mother would ask if Kari had enough clean underwear and laundry?

Diana was still in mourning, she didn't care if it wasn't fashionable or that the tabloids are claiming that her and Karishma are the rightful heirs to the Wayne fortune now.

She would gladly be penniless, hungry and homeless if it meant that Bruce was holding her again at night.

"-nk?" Diana realized that Clark was talking to her and she didn't hear a word about it.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"If this is too hard on you D-"

"I'm fine, just lost in my own thoughts, now what did you ask me?"

"We were thinking Karishma, She has the same training as Bruce. Has six months as batgirl, more experience as Oracle, especially after Barbara being on Maternity leave; she has her Master's in Social Work and Criminal Psychology, she's a certified ASL translator, she'd be perfect for the job, what do you think?"

Clark was right of course, Clark was the one that said that Kari was crazy when Kari wanted to speed through the courses she was taking at G.U. she some how managed to do a social work degree with a minor in psychology in three years, her Master's took a year. Knowing Kari, with all of the night classes and day classes and weekend classes, she still had time to volunteer with her few favorite charities. Always the over achiever, she graduated high school at 16. Took two years off of school to train with Batman and well…the rest as they say, is history.

Diana shook her head "she won't do it guys, and you know she won't – she wants nothing to do with the cape and cowl or any of us. She loves the idea of protecting Gotham, but she feels that she doesn't need to hide in a dark dank cave or in the watchtower and pretend she's some sort of weird bat goddess to clean up Gotham. She doesn't want to hide behind a cape in the shadows. She doesn't think that Gotham needs another masked hero; Karishma is quite adamant that the heroes of her generation should be: the teachers, and the police officers, not some masked vigilante who can't come out during the day."

Wally grinned "here I was thinking that she still blamed Supes for not savin' Bats."

That was part of it too, that some how Kari blamed Superman for not being able to save Batman from that robbery. Kari thought that Clark was too busy looking down on the world from above to remember that people down here needed actual saving, not just Aliens in some far off galaxy that no one has heard about.

Of course, everyone except Wally has a filter and everyone refused to bring it up, after that one blow up and blow out incident with Clark and Karishma after Bruce's funeral.

It killed Clark knowing that his niece blamed Clark for Bruce's death. It hurt worse then a kryptonite bullet straight to the head knowing that they got the distress signal too late, "She's right?"

"What?" the team looked to Clark

He coughed, looking like a little boy playing Superman instead of the actual Superman "nothing, who do you suggest then?"

"If you want to keep it with the bat team, I'd ask Dick or Tim, they'd be your best bet, I don't think Tim would put on the cape and cowl, but Dick might," Then again, Diana wasn't too sure of everything anymore.

Clark and J'onn made a note of it and they dismissed the meeting.

Shayera waited until Diana had half a cup of coffee in her before she started talking again "so, where is Kari today anyway?"

"Job interview."

"So quick?"

"Hmm, they wanted her for a while full-time, but she wanted to finish her degree first, apparently the interview is just a formality."

"Wow! Good for her!" Shayera grinned; she was going to be a grandmother in a few months and looked as if she had barely aged.

Diana nodded and hummed quietly "I don't know if I want her working where she is, but, I'm done arguing, lately everything is a freaking argument…I…I want everything back the way it was, I know that's impossible, but when Bruce was a live we were so close knitted," She fought the urge to check her high chiseled cheekbones for tears.

"Can I ask where her interview is?"

Diana sighed and rolled her neck trying to get it to stop from hurting "Arkham Asylum, she'll be part of the rehabilitation team and parole board."

Shayera blinked at Diana in response and took a long swig of her too hot, too burnt coffee before she responded to Diana's statement; "wow, the Wayne's can't away from the crazies, hmmm?"

Diana made a face "tell me about it."


	8. First Meeting

First meeting.

**Come on now, who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are?**

**Ha ha ha bless your soul.**

**You really think you're in control**

Karishma sat in her designer on sale black business suite and laboratory coat combination, a high heel dangle from her foot. The blouse underneath her jacket was a dark red, almost burgundy; it complimented perfectly with her sun-bronzed kissed skin.

Her black, never been cut hair was plaited and over her shoulder so she wouldn't sit on it, her painted bronzed shimmery lips wrapped around a pen gently as she waited for her next patient to come in.

Someone knocked on the door, she looked at her appointment book and realized that her patient was right one time, not that she expected any less, in this…jail disguised as a hospital for the criminally insane.

She quickly made herself look presentable and almost professional "come in?" she called gently.

A man walked in almost as old as her father, he was wearing green pajamas and a matching hat, "Miss Wayne?" It was true, she wasn't a doctor and it would be inappropriate to call her such.

"I am." She smiled, her too straight teeth, thanks to braces, seemed even whiter with the dark bronzed almost skin toned lipstick painted on, Mr. Nygma. Edward Nygma correct?" she wanted to make sure.

He shook her hand gently "correct, Miss Wayne, tell me something."

"What's that?" She looked into his blue eyes.

"Do you like riddles?"

-END-


End file.
